-
The Sound of October Revival
One of the things I’m most excited about regarding 2018 is the release of Rock Revival. The book took shape about 5 years ago, right after the birth of my daughter. No, it’s not a genre book. Yes, I’m usually a genre writer, but to be quite honest I’ve never seen myself as a genre writer exclusively. It’s just how things have mostly shaken out. Music is a huge part of my life. It always has been. I’m lucky to have grown up in recording studios and always surrounded by the sounds of people singing, playing guitars, and plugging in amplifiers. Both my sister and I have been singing Beatles…
-
Being as Good as My Word: On Getting Distance from Writing
Writers. We’re a funny bunch. I fully believe that in order to cope with the general stress and chaos of having many worlds and stories and people in our heads, we impose odd deadlines and limitations on ourselves. We don’t always share these with the masses, and some of them are downright personal. But it helps us make sense of all the fractal patterns spinning around us on a daily basis. Because otherwise I’m pretty sure we’d never get anything done. I do this quite frequently. And after the nine months of writing drought that came during pregnancy, I wrote a little book called Rock Revival about a fictional rock band.…
-
‘Cause I’m Short On Time, I’m Lonely and I’m Too Tired to Talk
The above lyric is from Keane’s “Can’t Stop Now” and it’s apropos for more reasons other than I just like the song. Life, in short, these days, has been nothing short of OMGWTF. I really don’t want to go into the details, ’cause honestly, this blog ain’t that sort of thing. We’re okay. We’re managing. But I hadn’t been able to write a lick in the last almost three weeks due to the insanity of life as of late but… BUT! (Oh, shit, she’s whippin’ out the caps) I wrote last night and came close enough to the middle mark in the novel that I will call it 50% finished.…
-
On Feminism and Women Who Rock
The Spark I was sitting in the bleacher seats in one of the music classrooms at UMass, and sort of staring top-down at the Music 101 professor. She walked around the podium and said, “Now, some of you have been asking why we’re not covering the sections of women composers, the ones listed in the book. Well, the truth is that they’re just not very good.” My breath caught in my throat. She continued with a smile, “And it’s just more important that we cover the influential composers.” This was roughly twelve years ago, my freshman year. At the time, I was still hellbent on becoming a singer-songwriter. Hearing the professor–a…
-
I can’t stay here to hold your hand, I’ve been away for so long
That's a Neko Case lyric, from "The Next Time You Say Forever" from Middle Cyclone. It sums up things nicely for where the book is going right now.
